Furnace for burning producer-gas.



No, 793,070. PATENTED JUNE 27, 1905. W. L. HARDER.

FURNACE FOR BURNING PRODUCER GAS.

APPLICATION FILED 11113.16. 1904.

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WITNESSES W/u/AM Z HARDER 3SEEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED JUNE 2'7, 1905 W. L. HARDER.

FURNACE FOR BURNING PRODUCER GAS PPLIGATION ILED FEB 16, 1904 WITNESS 6:

$2. MW/L No. 793,070- PATENTED JUNE 27, 1905.

W. L. HARDER.

FURNACE FOR BURNING PRODUCER GAS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.16, 1904.

a SHEETSSHEET a.

ATTORNEY,

Patented June 27, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM L. HARDER, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

FURNACE FOR BURNING PRODUCER-GAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,070, dated June 27, 1905.

Application filed February 16,1904. Serial No. 193,871.

To (1 77/ 7U/L07N/ 72mg concern.-

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM L. HARDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and obycctionable smoke.

useful Improvements in" Furnaces for Burning Producer-Gas, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in furnaces adapted and particularly designed to successfully burn producer-gas under boilers, and has for its object to so construct the furnace that the air and gas will be preheated therein and thoroughly commingled at a point where they will have obtained a full and complete combustion before they impinge against the cooler surface of the boiler.

More particularly, it is the object of my invention to provide an auxiliary furnace into which the air and gas are introduced and ignited and which is constructed of a material adapted to be heated to a high degree, so that the chamber in which the gases are ignited will be maintained at a heat which will insure their proper commingling with the air and a complete combustion.

My invention further comprises the construction and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a boiler-furnace provided with my producer-gas-burning improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan view taken on a horizontal section through Fig. '1. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section through the auxiliary furnace shown in sectional elevation and plan in the preceding figures. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the furnace.

The same reference-numerals refer to the same parts throughout the drawings.

The advantages which are gained by utilizing producer-gas for firing boiler-furnaces are of the greatest value, and heretofore attempts have been made to do this which have not proved successful, mainly for the reason that the gases were introduced immediately beneath the boiler, where the temperature was not sufficiently high to insure their commingling properly with the air and being entirely consumed. The result was an almost prohibitive loss of unconsumcd gases through the stack and the production of great volumes of It is also true that it is very difficult to regulate the admission of air and gas in proper proportions when their combustion in the furnace is not even and regular. From this it follows that producer-gas cannot be successfully burned in boiler-furnaces without making provision for its proper admixture with air and thorough combustion before the products impinge against the surface of the boiler and are chilled thereby. To these ends I have perfected my invention, which I have illustrated as applied to a boilerfurnace comprising the boiler 1, suspended in any desirable manner within the casing 2 and provided with smoke-Hues leading to a breeching 3, which connects with the stack L. The chamber or compartment within the main furnace-casing and disposed beneath the boiler constitutes the combustionchamber of the furnace. There is a bridge-wall 5 within the combustion-chainber, near which in present constructions the fuel is burned. It must be evident that the gases will be only partly consumed before they come into direct contact with the comparatively cold surface of the boiler, with the result that they are cooled below the point of combustion, and their proper combination with the oxygen in the air, which is necessary for their complete combustion, is defeated. To overcome this, the gases should be ignited and burned in a chamber which is sufficiently heated to perfect this desirable combination and prevent the formation of soot and smoke before the gases impinge against the chilling-surface of the boiler. \Vith this object in view 1 provide an auxiliary furnace 6, which projects forward of the furnace proper and has formed therein a chamber constituting the ignition-chamber for the gases, which is on a plane with the combustion-chamber in the main furnace, with which it preferably has a direct and unobstructed communication, so that it practically forms a continuation thereof in a separate casing forward of the boiler. This auxiliary furnace-is built entirely of fire-brick and is designed to absorb and retain a high degree of heat from the burning of the gases. The radiation of this heat in the chamber of this furnace causes the air and gas in the ignition-chamber to combine perfectly and the resultant gases to be almost entirely burned before entering the combustion-chamber and striking the boiler. In this case the chilling effect of the boiler will not be particularly disadvantageous, since the gases will have been formed and consumed before striking it.

Gas from the producer is supplied to the furnace by the sewer 7 under the control of a butterfly-valve 8, disposed outside of the furnace. From this valve a pipe 9 enters the front of the auxiliary furnace at one side thereof and then leads through the furnace and combustion-chamber to the bridge-wall 5, then in a loop back to the front of the auxiliary furnace nearthe center thereof. Here a division-wall 10 is provided. leading a part of the way back to the bric ge-wall and dividing the furnace 6 into two chambers. The pipe 9 passes through this wall and makes another similar loop in the second chamber, after which it leads out of the other side of the front of said furnace and enters a gas-box 11, disposed transversely in front of the furnace 6. This gas-box provided with ports 12, which admit the gas to pipes 13, by which it is delivered to flaring burners 1%, one of which is disposed near the center of the forward end of each ignition-chamber of the auxiliary furnace.

Below the bottom of the auxiliary furnace and main combustion-chamber 1 provide a series o separate longitudinal tines 15 for the admission of air. Air enters the inlet ends of these fiues, which are disposed near the ground or floor, and then passes back to the bridgcwall, where it turns up and, through an opening 16, enters an upper series of fines 15, which are immediately under the bottom walls of the combustion and ignition chambers. The air passes along these upper fines to the front end of the furnace 6 and in a highly-heated condition enters the ignitionchambers through foraminous plates 18, one of which is disposed across the front end of each chamber of said furnace immediately below the burners l-t. The admission of air to the fines leading to each chamber is separately controlled by dampers 19, operated by rods 20, connected to levers 21, which are pivoted to the front wall of the furnace 6 and provided with thumb screws 22, by which they are set at any desired position on the quadrant 23. (irate-valves 2% in the pipes 13 control the admission of gas to the furnace. The airways loare so constructed that they will become intensely hot by radiation, and the air will be accordingly raised to a high temperature before delivery into the auxiliary furnace.

hen the auxiliary furnace reaches the proper temperature and the air and gas are properly regulated, the workof the boiler will be steady, the consumption of the fuel complete, and the disadvantages attendant upon the unequal heating of. the boiler and incomplete consumption of the fuel avoided.

The preheating of the air and gas before introducing them into the ignition-chamber is essential to the most successful operation of my invention, and the proper regulation of both of these elements is also necessary to insure complete consumption.

Bymy construction it is possible to successfully burn producer-gas under boiler and other furnaces, it being possible to readily alter the construction and arrangement of parts to make it applicable to puddling and other furnaces without departing from the principles of my invention.

To further increase the temperature of the gases within the furnace, 1 construct the furnace-floor25 beyond the bridge-wall 5 of tirebrick and fill in below the brick with earth, so that after the furnace has been fired some time this lioor will become suflieiently heated to maintain the heat of the gases as they pass to the boiler-tines by radiation.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.. In a furnace, a combustion-chamber therein formed with an extension constituting an ignition-chamber, a bridge-wall in said combustion-chamber, a gas-pipe which enters said ignition-chainber, passes back toward said bridge --wall and makes a loop within said chambers, a burner at the front end of said ignition-chamber which is supplied with heated gas by said pipe, a valve controlling the admission of gas, and means to admit air for admixture with said gas.

2. In a furnace, a combustion chamber formed with an extension constituting an ignition-chamber,a bridge-walhair-flues formed beneath said chambers and leading back toward said bridge-wall, then forward to said ignition-chamber, a foraminons plate through which said air enters said latter chamber, and means to introduce gas at a proper point for admixture with said air.

3. In a furnace, a combustion-chamber, an auxiliary furnace opening at its inner end into said combustion chamber, a division wall formed of heatradiating material and disposed within said auxiliary furnace to divide it into separate compartments, fines for the air and gas which are preheated by said auxiliary furnace, ports for said lines near the outer end of each compartment of said auxiliary furnace, and valves to control the admission of air and gas to said compartments through said flues.

4:. In a steam-boiler furnace, a main casing within which the boiler is disposed, a combustion-chamber disposed beneath said boiler, an auxiliary casing disposed without said main casing, an ignition -chamber therein which opens at one side into said combustion-chamber and on the other sides is built of refractory material, means to preheat air and gas in the casings and to introduce and burn said preheated gas and air in said ignition-chamber before they impinge against the chilling-surface of the boiler.

5. The combination with a steam-boilerfurnace and its casing, of a combustion-chamber beneath said boiler, an ignition chamber formed in an extension of said casing forward of the boiler and constituting a continuation of said combustion-chamber, said chambers having a substantially continuous horizontal flooring formed of refractory material, means to admit air and gas only at the outer end of said ignition-charmber, means to cause the air and gas to become highly heated before admission to said ignition-chamber by conducting them through conduits within the extension of said furnace and communicating with said ignition-chamber.

6. In a steam-boiler furnace, the combina tion of a main combustion-chamber and an ignition-chamber forming an extension thereof and disposed in a separate casing, a gas-conduit which preheats the gas by leading in a circuitous route through said chambers, a gasbox disposed in front of said ignition-chamber and communicating with said conduit and, by one or more passages, with one or more nozzles in said chamber, and a valve for each passage.

T. In a steam-boiler furnace wherein two boilers are suspended above a common combustion-chamber, an ignition-chamber formed in a casing without the main furnace and communicating with said combustion-chamber, a partition dividing said chamber into a separate ignition-compartment for each boiler, independently controlled means to introduce heated air and gas into each compartment and thoroughly ignite them before they enter the common combustion-chambers beneath the boilers.

8. In a furnace for burning producer-gas, the combination with the main casing and a combustion-chamber therein, of an auxiliary casing having an ignition-chamber forming a continuation of said combustion-chamber and having direct and unobstructed communica tion therewith, said ignition-chamber having walls of refractory material and disposed without the main casing, means to heat the gas in said casings and to convey it in a highly-heated condition to the outer end of said ignitionchamber, valve means to control the flow of heated gas, and means to heat air in said casings and introduce it into the ignition-chamber to commingle therein with the heated gas.

9. In a furnace for burning producer-gas, a combustion-chamber, an auxilia y casing having an ignition-chamber communicating therewith, a conduit subjected to the heat in said chambers in which the gas is heated and conveyed in a highly-heated condition to said ignition-chamber, a nozzle to receive and discharge said heated gas in a thin body into the outer end of said ignition-chamber, and means to introduce a regulated volume of heated air into said ignition-chamber below said nozzle, for the purposes described.

10. In a furnace for burning producer-gas, a combustion-chainber, an ignition-chamber which opens into the outer end of said combustion-chamber and is surrounded by refractory walls which are not exposed to the chilling influence of the body to be heated, a conduit for gas which is disposed in a loop in said chambers and maintained highly heated by the burning gases therein, a gas-admission pipe connected to said conduit and to a nozzle disposed at or near the outer end of said ignition-chamber, and means to supply air to said. ignition-chamber for admixture therein with said gases.

11. In a furnace for burning producer-gas, a combustion-chamber, an ignition-chamber which opens into the outer end of said combustion-chamber and forms a free and unobstructed continuation thereof, a gas-supply port entering the front end of said ignitionchamber and so disposed that the gas admitted thereby flows in a substantially straight course through both of said chambers, whereby the draft is not obstructed, conduits disposed so as to be heated by the burning gas, said conduits adapted to admit heated air to said ignition-chamber and highly-heated gas to said supply-port.

12. In a boiler-furnace, a casing in which the boiler is mounted, a bridge-wall within the casing to the frontof which extends aheatradiating floor for the combustion-chamber disposed beneath the front end of the boiler, an auxiliary casing disposed to the front of the boiler, an ignition-chamber therein the floor of which is formed by an uninterrupted continuation of the heat-radiating floor of said combastion-chamber, said flooring and chambers being without openings except at or near the outer end of said ignition-chamber, and means to admit air and gas through said openings so that they commingle and flow in a substantially undeflected course through said chambers to the bridge-wall.

13. In a boiler-furnace, a main casing, a combustion-chamber,an auxiliary casing, an ignition-chamber, said chambers having a continuous substantially horizontal flooring formed of heat-radiating material and having IIO an air-admission opening or openings only at In testimony WhereofIhave signed my name or near the outer end of said ignition-chamto this specification in presence of tWo Wit- IO bgr, a port or ports for the adigission of gas nesses. a jacent to the point 0 air a mission, sai 5 ports being so arranged that the air and gas WILLIAM HARDER mix freely in ignition-chamber and flow in a Witnesses: substantially straight course through both of OWEN N. RAUscHENBnRe, said chambers. H. M. HORTON. 

